Sign



July 13 1926. I P. s. VAN BLOEM SIGN Original Fil d Nov 24. 1922 2Sheets-Shut 1 llllllllll INVENTOR -12 Haida/1L9 ATTORNEYS July 13,1926.1,592,398

P. S. VAN BLOEM SIGN Origirial Filed 24. 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 'INVENTORATTORNEYS Patented July 13, 1926.

UNITED STATES PA TENTTOFFICE.

PAUL SCHUYLER VAN mom/nor I-IEMPSTEAD, NEW YQRK, nssrenon TO THE VIKINGPRODUCTS CORPORATIO on NEW YORK, N. n, A con-renames or NEW YORK.

- SIGN.

Application filed November 24, 1922, erial No. 683.011. Renewed. January.19, 1925.

One of the main objects of this invention is the provision of a sign orsignal plate, of

translucent glass or other material which will permit the passage oflight rays, having deeply impressed characters in its rear orlight-receiving face, the said. characters being in reverse andreadablethrough the front face of the plate. I

Another important object is to so form the sign plate that the walls ofthe impressed character'swill be so shaped and disposed as to cause thelight rays entering the impressions-to be transmitted through the platein a manner to give the illusion of raised characters on the front faceof the plate.

The sign or signal plate is shown in a cas- 7 ing, and receivingillumination upon its rear face, but a sign of this character may beused efiectively in daylight, or other general illumination, andindependently of the casing and lamp.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a signal with the plate mounted thereinand indicates the illusion of relief characters upon the front face ofthe plate; i

Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken through.

. the signal on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view of the rear face of the signal plate;

' Fig. 4 a greatly enlarged detail section taken through the platoon theline 4--4.- of

Fig. 1 showing the form of oneof the depressions and its effect upon thelight rays cast therein; s

Fig. 5 a similar view of cation; and

Fig. 6 a view similar to Fig. 4 showing coloring or opaque matterapplied to the bottom of the depression.

Referring to the parts, 1 designates the improved sign or signal plate.The plate 1 is made of transparent or translucent glass, or othersuitable material which will permit the passage of light rays. Thereverse face of the plate 1 is formed with a series of deeply impressedcharacters C, the said characters being in reverse as shown in Fig. 3and readable through the front face of the plate as indicated in Fig. 1.In the present showing the plate 1' is adapted for use as an elevatorsignal and the impressed characters are the letters of the word Down;The plate is larger than the overa slight modifithe side walls 5.

; isazsas all dimensions of the impressed characters in order to securea generalillumination of that part of the plate surrounding the char?actors. The sign casing C .isprovided, preferably, with a rearreflecting wall W. A lamp L is suitably located andmounted within thecasing to properly illumina e the plate. It will, of course, beunderstood that the lamp and signal plate could be mounted in otherwaysthan the one shown.

Referring to Figs. 1 to l inclusivethe signal plate 1 has asubstantially fiat front face 2 and a rear or light-receiving face Theface 3 is formed with depressions fl which conform in outline to thecharacter to be displayed through the front face of the plate. In thepresent instance the deas shown in Fig. 4 anda-re substantially.

perpendicular to the plate face 3. The bot-' tom 6 Of the depressioncurves inwardly at the sides as shown at .7 and merges with The sidewalls?) are of material depth particularlv with relation to the width ofthe letter stroke and this depth of the side walls and their substantialper pen-dicularity to the plate face together with the curves 7 areimportant factors in accomplishing one ofthe objects of theinvention.that is, to produce the illusion of a character in reliefupon the frontface of the plate The effect of the light rays which are directed intothe depressions 4-, as illustrated signal is viewed from directlvinfront: the ray 0; which passes through the center. of the depressionwill not be refracted but will be transmitted straight to the eye of :inFig. his as follows. assnming that the or diifusedaway. fromthe eye ofthe observer toward the right and left. Owing to the substantialperpendicularity of the walls 5 to the rear face of the plate most ofthe rays (Z incident thereon will be beyond the critical angle. or theangle at which they would penetratethe plate, and will therefore betotallyreflected to the bottom of the depression, from whence they willbe refracted and transmitted in the direction of the observer. Owing tothe fact that the rays a and (Z are concentrated and forwardly directedand that the rays Z) and c strike the curves 7 and are caused to divergeaway from the eye of the observer. the character will be brilliantlyilluminated at the center and will shade away at the sides and cause theforwardly bulged appearance of the character as indicated in Fig. 1. Theside walls 5 of the depressions diverge slightly to permit thewithdrawal of the mold used in forming the depressions. This divergenceof the walls tends to'increase the shaded effect at the edge of thecharacter when viewed from the front.

When the signal is viewed obliquely as from the direction indicated bythe righthand arrow in Fig. 4, the rays such as a and b which are castupon the curve 7 are directed toward the observer while the rays fallingupon the bottom 6 and the nearer side wall 5 are directed away from theobserver thus causing the character to appear as an outstandingperspective with a high light at the corner due to the rays comingthrough the curve 7 and with the bottom 6 and side walls 5 of thedepression shading off from either side of the high light.

Fig. 5 shows a slight modification. the

hottdm of the depression in this case being uniformly curved. This formwill increase the diffusion of the rays and will produce a charactersomewhat different in appearance from the form shown in Fig. 4.

In Fig. 6, the bottom 6 of the depression 4 is shown as provided witheither a colored or an opaque coating 9 to produce a desired ornamentaleffect. The coating 9 may be applied to only the'c enter of the bottomleaving the curves 7 uncoated so as not to diminish their effect.

It will be seen that a simple. easily manufactured sign or signal andone that is also beautiful and effective. is provided. A sigml of thischaracter which permits the light o pass through the entire area of theplate is particularly effective as it makes a more striking effect andwill attract more attention than if merely the characters wereilluminated. The form shown in Fig. 1 may also be kept clean and brightwith a minimum of effort as there is no place for dust to lodge on thefront face as is the case with projecting characters.

A sign of this character is effective even when used independently.without the special illumination shown in Fig. 2. hen unprovided withspecial illumination the sign will share in the general illumination.either davlight or artificial. of its surroundings, and if both frontand rear faces receive illumination the effect will be the same asindicated in Fig. 1 in which the characters have a shaded outline, whileif the sign is disposed against a dark background and receives most ofits illumination from the front, the effect is reversed, the outlines ofthe characters appear bright while the centers of the characters and therest of the sign appear dark.

What I claim is:

1. A sign plate of material adapted to permit the passage of light raysformed in its rear or light-receiving face with a depression conformingin outline to a sign character, the said depression having a bot tom.side walls so disposed as to reflect most of the light rays receivedthereon upon the bottom. and surfaces at the juncture of the side wallsand the bottom so disposed as to cause light rays cast thereon to berefracted away from the center.

2. A sign plate of material adapted to permit the passage of light raysformed in its rear or light'receiving face with a depression conformingin outline to a sign character. the said depression being formed with abottom adapted to transmit directly the light rays which fall centrallyand normally thereon and to refract away from the center rays which fallupon the bottom at either side of its center.

3. A sign plate of material adapted to permit the passage of light raysformed in its rear or light-receiving face with a depression conformingin outline 'to a sign character the said depression having a bottomthrough which the light is transmitted. side walls of material depthsubstantially perpendicular to the rear face of the plate. and adaptedto reflect light rays to the bot tom. and surfaces connecting the bottomand the side walls adapted to cause the light rays falling thereon to berefracted away from the center.

4:. A sign plate of material adapted to permit the passage of light raysformed in its rear or light-receiving face with a depression conformingin outline to a sign character the said depression having side walls ofmaterial. depth and substantially perpendicular to the rear face of theplate. and a bottom curved rearwardly at the sides to merge with thesaid side walls.

5. A sign plate of material adapted to permit the passage of light raysformed in its reverse face with a depression conforming in outline to asign character the said depression having a bottom, side walls disposedto reflect light rays upon-the-bottom and a coating of colored matterapplied to the bottom, the said coating terminating short of the sidewalls. 7

6. A sign plate of material. adapted to permit the passage of light raysformed in its rear or light-receiving face with a deep characterimpression. the said impression having a concave bottom and side wallssubstantially perpendicular to the rear face of the plate.

7. A sign plate of material adapted to plate being larger than theover-all dimensions of the sign character and admitting 10 light throughthe character and through its area surrounding the character.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature.

PAUL SCHUYLER VAN BLOEM.

